Jan 18

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Brussels 5 January 2018 – EESPA launches its new Multilateral Interoperability Framework Agreement for use by its members

At its Annual General Meeting on 30 November 2017, EESPA agreed to launch its new Multilateral Interoperability Framework Agreement (MIFA) under which its members will exchange e-invoices and other documents on behalf of their customers.

An EESPA Working Group has been actively building the MIFA, now released as version 2.0, and also undertook a successful Pilot which was completed in 2017. The MIFA contains a Legal Agreement, a Common Service Description and an Adherence Agreement to express on-boarding by Members. EESPA also established a governance framework for ongoing support and development of its interoperability frameworks. The bilateral Model Interoperability Agreement remains available for member use as appropriate.

The MIFA delivers benefits to EESPA members and their customers. In 2016 over 500 million invoices were delivered between service providers from the EESPA community, an increase of 36.5% in B2B/B2G and 47.3% in the B2C segment over the previous year. This trend is expected to continue and is supported by the association’s interoperability agreements, which facilitate rapid on-boarding and efficient operations for thousands of end-users.

EESPA will continue to discuss and seek convergence with other e-business associations in the area of interoperability at both the business and technical level, and is committed as one of its key objectives to create a fully interoperable eco-system.

ABOUT EESPA:

Formed in 2011, EESPA is an international not-for-profit association. It acts as a trade association at a European level for a large and dynamic community of e-invoicing service providers, drawn from organisations that provide network, business outsourcing, financial, technology, and EDI (electronic data interchange) services. It focuses on public policy and compliance issues, the creation of an interoperable eco-system and championing the widespread adoption of e-invoicing for the benefit of economic efficiency and growth.